New York Snags Top Spot for Meetings & Events in North America in 2020

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Minneapolis - CWT M&E, the global meetings and events division of CWT, today unveiled its ranking of the top 10 cities for meetings and events in North America in 2020, with New York claiming the number one spot. The ranking is based on proprietary and industry data contained in CWT's 2020 Meetings & Events Future Trends report, to be published next week.

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The top 10 cities for meetings and events in North America (versus 2019):

New York (2)

San Francisco (8)

Chicago (9)

Atlanta (-)

Toronto (-)

San Diego (-)

Seattle (7)

Orlando (3)

Dallas/Fort Worth (6)

Las Vegas (1)

The Big Apple snatched the number one spot from Las Vegas, which tumbled to #10. San Francisco and Chicago, on the other hand, climbed six spots to claim the #2 and #3 ranking in 2020. After missing the cut in 2019, Atlanta, Toronto, and San Diego round up the top six destinations for meetings and events next year.

While demand for meetings and events continues to rise in North America, the pace of growth has fallen, tempered by political headwinds.

"Political events have a direct impact more than ever on companies' quarterly and annual outlooks," said Tony Wagner, Vice President, Americas and South Pacific regions, CWT Meetings & Events. "Some industry segments are pulling back and are being a bit more cautious."

Fears of a looming economic slump, driven in part by the deepening trade war between the world's two largest economies, the US and China, are also impacting booking times. Large events previously booking at least six months in advance are now seeing shorter windows of three months, hobbled by the geopolitical and global economic uncertainty.

Close at the heels of 2020's top 10 North American cities are five destinations that are expected to make waves next year, including last year's Super Bowl host, Minneapolis, as well as Indianapolis, Austin, Houston, and Portland. These destinations typically offer better values than the top-tier cities, along with an increasing number of competitive facilities that can host meetings and events of varying sizes.

About CWT

CWT is a Business-to-Business-for-Employees (B2B4E) travel management platform. Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected - anywhere, anytime, anyhow - and across six continents, we provide their employees with innovative technology and an efficient, safe and secure travel experience. Every single day, we look after enough travelers to fill more than 100,000 hotel rooms, while our meetings and events division handles more than 100 events every 24 hours.